Foiled Plans and New Promises to Keep

(AN: Sexy threesome scene coming up in the next chapter, guaranteed! I had to cram, like, two or three chapters into this one single one just to get to the good part and please all you naughty bunch of munchkins out there! Thanks to all the readers who stuck around for this long, even though I don't post sex scenes that much. Thinking about it, I really need to appreciate you guys more than worry about the ratings and views of each chapter. Hope you enjoy the story!)

The bathroom door creaked open as Stacy slowly leaned her head inside to call out softly, “Milady? Are you alright?”

Inside, she could see her friend bent over in front of the sink, tears streaming down her cheeks as Bella silently sobbed to herself.

Taking a deep breath, Stacy went inside the bathroom in order to comfort Bella. It was easy to imagine what she was going through right now.

As a doctor, Stacy has been more than used to dealing with outbursts and symptoms like these with her patients over the years. For Empress Bella though, having to deal with someone as important as Lord John to go through amnesia, she clearly wasn’t as prepared as the good doctor.

Standing right beside her, Stacy gently rubbed her friend’s back in a comforting manner, in order to put her at ease.

Bella looked up at Stacy, revealing her mascara running down, mixing with her tears. Her makeup had been ruined, and it really was a shame to see on someone as beautiful as her.

Stacy looked around to find the paper towel dispenser and pulled a few of it in order to hand over to Bella, which she gratefully took to wipe her face dry.

Bella choked back a sob, trying to calm down. Breathing steadily, she told the doctor, “I thought I’d be able to handle it. Seeing him like this, for some reason I thought I would be able to handle it because I figured it wouldn’t be this serious...” She started chuckling to herself, even though nothing about this felt funny at all. “God, I’m so naive. He was nearly on the edge of a panic attack just from finding out that he was a drinker, and yet here I am, thinking he’d eventually be back to normal in no time. I am an idiot.”

“Don’t say that. You’re not an idiot, Milady.” Stacy reassured her, continuing to stroke her back. “There was no way we could have known about this. There was no way we could have predicted he would have reacted so violently.”

Bella remained silent, covering her eyes as she held herself back from crying any further.

Stacy could only continue to comfort her, not knowing what else she could do.

“Doctor...” Bella spoke up, looking at her friend in complete seriousness, “If something as small as drinking is enough to set him off the edge like this, what will happen when we tell him the whole truth? If he learns that he’s so much more important to everyone than he could ever imagine, that he had done so much in such little time, what do you think will happen to him? Will Lord John’s mind simply break? Will he go crazy? Without being able to remember anything he’s ever done, will he even be able to comprehend it?”

Stacy looked at Bella right in her eyes, sighing to herself, “I’ll be honest... I don’t know. How fragile Lord John’s mind is, it seems to vary depending on how he learns new things about himself. I could tell him the magnificent miracles he performed right in his face, and he wouldn’t even bat an eye as long as he believed it was someone else who did it instead of him. But to think that he would react so strongly when we told him that he drank...” Stacy sighed again in stress, “If only I knew about this beforehand, we would have avoided this situation entirely. We’ve always known Lord John loved his cocktail drinks for as long as we’ve known him, so I never would have expected that he would have such a strong stance against **** in the past...”

“There’s a lot of things about him that we didn’t expect...” Bella mumbled tonelessly, “He seems so different than the Lord John we know. He doesn’t drink, he hates multiple relationships, he doesn't even want to be famous-“

“-He’s less confident, yet more sincere.” Stacy continued off. She thought back to the hotel, where Lord John confessed his feelings for her, and her utter disbelief from it. He seemed so genuine and romantic, when before the amnesia, Lord John has never shown any interest. He had been friendly with her during work, sure, and even greatly appreciated her sexual skills when they fooled around, but nothing that screamed a passionate 'I love you' like last night... “I’ve noticed it as well after spending the last few days talking with him as well. His values, his behaviors, even the different way he treats others... Not to say that he wasn’t before, but comparing them both before and after the amnesia, Lord John seems much more... emotionally aware toward others, in a sense...” Readjusting her glasses, she sighed, “It’s almost like Lord John became a different person.”

Bella blew her nose into her paper towel, before throwing it in the trash. With a sniff, she said, “You'd think, as his wife, I would have gotten to know him better than anyone else. Yet here I am, learning so many new things about him that he’s never bothered to tell me before. It makes me wonder if he had always been this secretive, or if maybe he just doesn’t consider me that important to him to tell me anything about himself.”

“Don’t say that, Milady.” Stacy reassured, “Out of all the girls in the world, you were the one that he married first!”

“And yet I still only know him about as well as you do.” Bella chuckled bitterly, “He never told me anything about his life before he became a surgeon, did you know that? He and I went to the same high school, and I barely even knew him during then either. I'm completely clueless to what he was like before. I wonder what that says about me?”

Stacy didn’t know how to respond to that. Thinking about it now, Lord John had never told her anything about his life before becoming a surgeon either.

In the end, both her and Bella were in the same ballpark when it came with Lord John...

There was a moment of silence between the two as they both stared into the mirror to see themselves looking back in thought.

Bella spoke first, “It doesn’t really matter. I don’t care if Lord John loves me back as his wife or only thinks of me as another girl. I still love and cherish him, despite it all. I don’t want to lose him.” She stared back at Stacy with heavy despair in her eyes, “I would do anything if it means keeping him safe and happy. Even if it means having to accept that the Lord John we used to know is gone for good, I’d still protect him. I... I just don't want him to die, Stacy. I'd do anything, even hide away any evidence of who he used to be so that he'd never go through a shock like that again. Just don't let him die. Please."

Stacy couldn't help but frown over her friend's despair and desperation. Deep down, she knew she was just the assistant doctor to Lord John. Stacy couldn't perform miracles like him. So try as hard as she could, there was no way to reassure Bella and guarantee that she'd be able to prevent Lord John from dying if the worst possible situation happens.

Thinking like that, it honestly made Stacy scared too.

Meanwhile, about 50 miles away...

Pierre impatiently tapped his foot as he stood behind a line of customers at a supermarket. Although at this point, after waiting for so long, his foot tappings have devolved to manic foot stompings. Pierre nervously checked his watch, his body bouncing with a rush of energy as he muttered, "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!"

Eventually, his impatientness bore fruit when it was finally his turn to check out at the register. Speedwalking up to the cashier, he slammed a packaged box on the counter, as well as a box containing about 200 lbs. of oranges.

"I am buying your most expensive citrus juicer, as well as this big box of oranges! I need you to be as quick as possible!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your cool. I'm going as fast as I can already." The elderly woman behind the counter muttered dismissively as she began scanning the juicer. Moving the box away, she then proceeded to individually scan every single orange in the other box, one by one.

Pierre continued to stomp his foot impatiently as he stared at his watch.

The only sound to accompany his thoughts were the methodical noises of the scanner's beeping.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

...

The elderly lady looked closely at the barcode sticker of the orange, wondering why it didn't scan. She tried a few more times with the scanner, before finally hearing another beep and moving on.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Pierre, nearly going crazy at this point, slammed his hands on the counter and yelled, "For the love of God, woman! A life is at stake here! Hurry up, so that I can go back and make orange juice for Lord John before it's too late!"

"Ha, right." The lady chuckled, "If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that Lord John was in danger and tried to rush me to check out a new vacuum cleaner, or a plasma tv- I'd... Well, I'd honestly just have a nickel. This is pretty much a first for me."

Pierre muffled his scream as he furiously and repeatedly banged his head on the counter.

Katherine had an eye raised, wondering what that huge debacle was about.

She had been too far away to listen in to their conversation, but it seems like there was some sort of argument between Lord John and the others.

Perhaps a falling out with his trophy wife? Or did Pierre mess up his drink somehow? Lord John's hand couldn't stop trembling when he was holding it, and Pierre looked like he was **** to dump it out. Then suddenly, the boss left his station, and his trophy wife seemed to have lost all composure and left as well. She looked pretty upset too.

The assistant doctor followed right after her, probably to make sure she was alright.

That meant Lord John was left all alone, nothing to keep him company while he had his head in his hands.

Hmm...

The circumstances seemed strange, but Katherine was not one to look at a gift horse in the mouth. This was the perfect opportunity to strike while she still had the chance. Whatever problems John Doe was going through right now, he'd wouldn't need to worry about them any longer. Everything will be taken cared of, once he's been taken cared of. Permanently.

Holding back her manic grin as best as she could, she made her way back into the employee area and went inside the storage room, making sure no one was paying attention to her as she did so.

Knowing she was alone, she looked around to search for a storage box full of limes. The limes themselves weren't important, it was just a landmark she used in order to remember where she secretly placed her more... lethal personal belongings.

Seeing the lime boxes in the same place as they've always been, she carefully looked around her surroundings to make sure she was still alone and that no one was looking. Once she felt confident that she was safe, she moved the boxes away and pulled open a secret compartment underneath the floor space of the storage room.

The secret compartment was something she had set up in the middle of the night when she first started working here. Inside contained all the secret tools she needed in the event that she ever managed to be face to face with Lord John. It was only a situational compartment, so it didn't contain any of the heavy stuff she usually carried. But for the time being, what it has now was actually perfect for her.

A few items here and there, like a dissolvable pill that causes simultaneous and immediate organ failure after two hours of consumption, a bottle of lube that contains a toxic substance that eats through the skin for if she was ever able to get him to sleep with her (it's also more of a suicide attack, so she's thankful that won't be happening,) but most importantly...

The poisonous photograph and red pen.

Sighing in relief to see that it's been untouched, she grabbed the two and went to commit her plan.

Exiting out from the back room and making her way to the bar counter, she saw Lord John still sitting by himself with his head laying down on his arms. Apparently, whatever argument that happened earlier seemed to have really gotten to him.

Well then, let's go ahead and cheer him up! Katherine maliciously thought to herself.

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and got into the role of a smitten fangirl hoping to get noticed. Months of acting lessons finally paying off as it was now being used to commit the ultimate and most important **** of the decade.

Walking up next to Lord John, she carefully cleared her throat and asked, "Um... Hello?"

Lord John glanced up to notice Katherine standing over him with an excited smile as she held the photo and pen behind her back. Being caught off guard, he steadily pushed himself up in his seat and rubbed through his hair, "Oh, uh, yeah?"

"Sorry, I hope I didn't pick a bad time to bother you." Katherine said shyly, buckling her legs together in a girly fashion.

"I dunno to be honest. I have absolutely no idea." He muttered, but shook his head and tried to put on a polite smile, "Sorry, um, what do you need Miss?"

He seemed... much more different than she expected. There was a lack of confidence and ego in his manners, unlike the way he usually portrayed himself. Probably from the argument from earlier affecting him so badly, she figured.

Making a cute smile, she told him, "Hi, my name is Katherine Rodgers. I know we haven't exactly met before and I'm so sorry if I'm being too forward here, but I've been dying to ask this ever since you came in!"

"Er... okay?" Lord John looked at her confusedly, almost as if he found her behavior to be unfamiliar and alien. It definitely didn't play into the script she had planned in her head.

Whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. Time to pull out the weapon on him.

Faking an excited deep breath, she asked him, "Is it okay if I can get an autograph from y-"

Just when she was about to pull out the photograph to present it to him, she felt a sudden sharp pain from her shoulder as her wrist had been roughly grabbed from behind and was now getting **** up her back.

"Ow! Owowowowow!" Katherine couldn't help but squeal painfully.

Looking behind her to see the attacker, she saw a redhead woman in professional sunglasses holding a grip on Katherine's hand that was holding the photo.

Shit, a bodyguard! Why the hell was she getting grabbed by one when she hadn't even done anything wrong yet?! Did she make a mistake somehow? Were her intentions too obvious?!

"Woah, Agent Parkins!" Lord John seemed just as startled as she was, waving his hand gently, "Go easy on the girl, it wasn't like she was about to attack me or anything!"

In a cold tone, this Agent Parkins forcefully grabbed the photograph from her hand and said, "Apologies, Sir. I'm under strict orders not to let suspicious individuals go near you while you're in your condition. This woman suddenly approached you while you were alone and under stress. I felt that I had to step in to stop her in case she was going to do something while your guard was down."

"Christ, you bodyguards sure are strict." Lord John commented awkwardly, "I'd hate to be on the receiving end of your anger if I ever incur it."

"Rest assured, I will never harm a hair on you, Sir." Agent Parkins replied neutrally, before facing back to Katherine with a glare, "Sir John is currently in no condition to be bothered. Whatever it is that you wanted, he won't be able to help, so please leave him alone."

"B-B-But I only wanted to ask for an autograph!" She tried to defend herself, hoping it was a good enough excuse to get the guard to calm down.

"An autograph?" Lord John raised an eyebrow confusedly, only to realize, "Oh, um... Sorry, both Dr. Mandel and Bella Cardigan are in the restroom right now, I think. I don't actually know whether or not they'd sign anything for fans, and I don't think asking me for help will do any good either. I'm sorry, Miss."

What in the blazing hell was he talking about?!

This was all starting to overwhelm and confuse Katherine as the situation worsened for her. Lord John was acting as if he expected her to get an autograph from his wife and assistant doctor for some reason, and his bodyguards haven't once called him by his preferred title of Lord.

Something doesn't seem to add up here.

"You heard the man. He can't help you. Please leave him be." The ferocious redhead coldly commanded behind her, before finally loosening her grasp on her arm.

Now let go, she turned around to glare at the bodyguard, "Hold on, I wasn't asking for him to help me get the others' autograph, I wanted to get-"

"Katherine! What are you doing?!" A familiar voice shouted from behind her.

Ah great, the boss was back. Dammit!

Turning around, she saw Pierre walking up to her while holding a cocktail glass filled with orange juice for some reason, as he yelled, "Katherine, why are you in a scuffle with one of the bodyguards? Are you trying to bother our customers?!"

"I mean, no, not intentionally! All I wanted was to get an autograph from L-" She tried to defend herself, only for Pierre to quickly shush her before she could finish.

Holding a finger up to her lip, Pierre gave her a serious look, "Katherine, I would like privately talk to you in the employee area. Please follow me, right now."

"But-"

"SHUSHUSHUSHUSH!" Pierre silenced her again, "No talking until we get to the back. Say what you want when we get there, but not a word sooner than that!"

Katherine frustratingly gritted her teeth, but silently nodded and obeyed her orders. God, she wanted to deck him in the throat right then and there for screwing up her chance.

Pierre took a deep breath to calm himself, before becoming all smiles in front of Lord John as he served him the glass of orange juice, "Here you go, my friend! Freshly squeezed, just for you!" Then, he bowed respectfully, "Many apologies if my employee has disturbed you while you were waiting."

"Um... it's fine..." Lord John awkwardly said as he grabbed the glass, "Thanks for the orange juice, Pierre. Erm, it's not my place to tell you how to do your job, but can you please go easy on the girl? It's not like she did anything wrong to me."

Katherine couldn't help but raised an eyebrow in shock at that. 'Not his place' he said? She'd never expect him to say something as humbling as that. In fact, she didn't expect the bastard to come to her side.

Pierre smiled professionally, "You are much too gracious, my friend. Of course, I will not be mad if she did nothing wrong! But please, excuse me for a moment as I talk privately with her, okay?"

Without another word, Pierre strutted his way to the back while also gesturing her to follow.

Urgh! She never even got to trick Lord John into signing the autograph!

The picture! That woman still has it!

Turning back around to face the bodyguard, she did her best to calm down as she politely and timidly asked, "Uh... I know this is a bit much, but can I at least ask for my photograph back?"

The redhead studied the photograph for a bit, before filing it away in her suit. With a stonecold face, she simply said, "I'll hold on to it for the time being. I don't want you to end up bothering Sir John and his friends again later. I'll ask to get it signed on your behalf when Sir John and his companions aren't busy, then hand it back to you when we leave."

Her hand clenched tighter on her red pen, knuckles turning white as Katherine felt like she might start blowing an artery in her head.

She hid her inner rage well, hiding it behind a smile, "In that case, let me give you my pen for him to-"

The bodyguard held a hand up, "I already have a pen. Yours isn't needed."

...

Damn it. Damn it damn it damn it damn it DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT-

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"KATHERINE! I asked to speak with you NOW!" She could hear Pierre's impatient voice calling out for her.

"Alright then. I hope you give it back soon." Katherine **** herself to politely bow before leaving the scene.

Damn her luck, damn Lord John for acting so weird, AND FUCK THIS STUPID REDHEADED BITCH!

As she walked away, murderous thoughts filled her head as she was barely able to contain her rage any longer, having her plans ruined by a stupid bodyguard.

But she had to **** herself to calm down in order to keep her cover.

This doesn't mean the plan was foiled, she had to remind herself of that. The photograph and pen weren't the only weapons she had. She had other tools to help kill Lord John, and still plenty enough time to kill him as long as he stuck around.

The afternoon isn't over yet.

That was a close one.

Agent Parkins gave a silent sigh of relief to herself as she looked over at Lord John. He began taking a swig of his glass of orange juice before shuddering in disgust, "Agh, it has pulp."

While Lord John wasn't looking, Agent Parkins pulled out the photograph that she took from the waitress moments ago.

This black and white headshot photograph depicting Lord John in a confident and sexy pose in bed, while flattering, would end up being more dangerous to Lord John if he ever saw it while still in his condition. It would be terrible timing, considering that Lord John was still in the middle of recovering from a stressful revelation about his drinking habits. No doubt seeing a picture of himself that he doesn't ever remember taking would overwhelm him, and she was not about to let that happen. Thank goodness she was able to get to the waitress in time before she showed the picture to Lord John.

Agent Parkins studied the photograph for a bit while she had it out. She understood the waitress wanting to get an autograph. Agent Parkins had an exact copy of this photograph back in her apartment, which she usually likes to look at from time to time during her days off from work. She admired the way the photo brought out his best features, from his handsome face to his masculine chest, it was enough to make any girl sigh in wanting. Sadly, she doesn't have an autographed copy of the photo. She never had the time or the courage to really request one from her Lord, but that was mostly due to how most of her time was spent guarding Dr. Stacy Mandel against any harm. So it wasn't really anyone's fault, just poor luck on her part.

Realizing that she might have stared at the picture a bit longer than what was considered professional, she hurriedly put the photo back in her suit with a small blush.

Still, it was more than just the photograph she was after when she saw the waitress approach her lord.

Something about that bunny girl didn't quite sit well with her.

For the entire time that girl had started her shift, the waitress had begun staring at Lord John from behind, never once leaving him out of her sight. It's one thing to longingly admire someone from afar, but Agent Parkins could easily tell that wasn't the case here. It was almost as if she was trying to drill holes in the back of his head or something just by sight alone. It was enough for even Lord John to subconsciously sense something was wrong before he began looking around the room to see what was causing him such discomfort.

And the way she smiled so professionally, so politely, even after taking her photograph of Lord John for safekeeping...

Agent Parkins could sense the malicious intent behind that smile of hers.

Something about the bunny girl just triggers alarm bells in her head, and she couldn't help but get a little bit violent when she saw the waitress approach Lord John like that.

Whether it was a false alarm or not, Parkins was going to keep a close special eye on that waitress at all times, just in case she tries anything else that seemed funny.

For all of her years of service, her intuition and protective instinct had never been wrong before.

For her sakes and for Lord John's, she hoped they were wrong for at least just this once.

I overreacted.

That had to be the case. I probably overreacted to something by blowing it out of proportions. I was overthinking it.

Maybe at some point in my life, I started making more friends with people who happened to be drinkers. Maybe hanging around with Pierre loosened me up a bit when it came to ****.

Plenty of people in this world drank **** after all, and plenty of those people were responsible about it. Even with the horror story that I had to go through back in middle school, my friend's uncle was only one tragic case of an alcoholic who couldn't control himself. That doesn't mean that anyone who starts drinking **** will end up like him as well. Otherwise, a major population of the world would be filled with dysfunctional adults who killed themselves out of depression. As long as I knew not to overdo it and drink responsibly, I wouldn't end up like my friend's uncle.

At least... that was what I imagined would be my main argument if I was trying to convince myself to become a drinker.

There was probably some truth behind Stacy's words earlier. After all, seven years is a long time to pass, and people could change on a dime over the simplest things. Who was I to say I couldn't have changed in those seven years?

As I thought this to myself, I saw the reflection of my face staring back at me in the orange juice's surface.

Shit though, the possibility that I ended up as a drinker due to something tragic happening in my life still scared the shit out of me. It was the only other possibility that made more sense, that I would disregard all of my values once I didn't have anything left to lose anymore.

Which reality is more likely, based on my personality and how I know myself? Would I really start to loosen up on my no drinking rule simply because I learned to drink responsibly? Or did I become a drinker because life decided to fuck me over and take everything that I've ever known and loved?

I wish I could confidently say that I knew myself well enough to easily answer that... But I honestly have my doubts right now.

At this point, without being able to find out from Stacy, it could honestly be a fifty-fifty chance to be either.

Damn it, fifty-fifty chance? If I was at a roulette table right now, I'd be buckling in my knees just from losing my nerve from the stakes.

I tried to calm myself down by taking a deep breath, knowing that freaking out any further isn't going to help me in this situation. I gulped down the rest of my orange juice, ignoring the disgusting slimy pulp as it slid down my tongue and reached in my throat. With a shudder, I slammed the glass back on the counter and gave a heavy sigh.

...

Fuck, I had a panic attack in front of everyone here, didn't I? I just realized that.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck, fuck man.

It must have freaked Bella out too, which was why she was in such a hurry to leave to the bathroom after witnessing my breakdown for herself. She probably couldn't handle the sight of seeing her best friend/ex-boyfriend go crazy right in front of her eyes.

I can't keep doing this. I can't just keep freaking out and overreacting every time I learned something about myself.

I need to stop overthinking things when I didn't even know the context behind them yet. Otherwise, I'm going to end up leading myself down to the wrong conclusions and get myself hurt.

I mean, fuck, seriously, if I could barely handle the fact that I was a drinker, how the hell would Stacy be able to trust me enough to finally tell me what I've been doing all these years? If I was guaranteed to go into shock, she might as well shoot me in the head after she was done telling me so that I didn't have to go through the suffering of it all.

That's it. No more.

I gotta keep a handle of myself. Don't let anything surprise you anymore.

What I need to do is relax, chill out, and go with the flow.

Yeah, go with the flow, just like I've always been doing since my entire life.

Like sitting in the back of the bus in a busy freeway. Don't tell the bus driver where you want to go, just sit back and let the bus driver take you where you need to be heading.

No matter what happens, no matter where things lead, I just gotta go with the flow. Even if Stacy revealed to me that I was secretly Count Dracula all this time, or that the entire world has been taken over by alien warmongerers since I've been gone, I just gotta let it ride and go with the flow.

Alright, it's settled then. No more being twitchy and easily triggered. No matter what happens, I keep my head on straight and keep sailing ahead full speed.

I slapped myself in the face to get my head cleared as I felt a surge of energy pump myself up.

Now that my little introspection episode is over with, how about I actually engage in something fun while I was here?

At that point, Pierre came back behind the counter, giving a tired sigh and wiping the sweat off his brow. Seeing me, he shook himself up and gave a polite smile, "Sorry for the wait, my friend. I hope you have been feeling better while I was gone." Seeing my empty glass, he then asked, "Was the orange juice to your liking?"

"Well... I'll admit, you forgot to take the pulp out." I chuckled.

From the face he was making after I told him that, you'd think he accidentally ran over my dog or something. While repeatedly bowing over and over again, he profusely apologized, "Oh dear, I am so so so so so sorry, please forgive me for my negligence, I can not believe I was so careless as to forget how you preferred your-"

"Uh, yo, Pierre, it's okay!" I waved him down, "Seriously, it wasn't that bad. I mean, I drank all of it, didn't I? Calm down. You're acting like you just committed an unspeakable crime against me."

"Er- yes- so sorry!" He apologized once more and bowed again. "Next time, I promise to take out the pulp, just how you like it!"

I couldn't help but laugh at how adorably earnest he was, "Christ, Pierre, take it down a notch. You don't have to treat me like a king or anything, I thought we were all friends here?"

"Oh, um-" He wiped his forehead as he nervously smiled back, "Of course. Sorry, I do not like it when I mess up an order. It is against my nature as a perfectionist at the craft, you see."

"Well, it was probably my fault anyway." I waved away, "I mean, I was the guy who ordered orange juice at a bar of a dance club."

Wait a minute... Dance club?

A thought struck me.

"Hey, Pierre? I got a question to ask you." I told Pierre as I studied the dance floor in interest.

"Yes, my friend? Whatever you need." Pierre stood in attention as he listened intently.

"You've known me for a decent while now, right?" I asked him curiously, "Bella said that you originally owned a small local bar in Georgia. This happened to be the place where her and I originally had our second date. Were you there when that happened?"

"Oh, er, yes! Yes, I was! I remember tending the bar while you two were together!" Pierre smiled enthusiastically as I mentioned this, as he asked, "Did you remember something?"

"Nope," I shook my head, "But I am curious... Did Bella and I ever get the chance to dance on that date?"

"Haha! Of course, my friend! You whisked her off to the dance floor and kept dancing with one another until you were both sore in the feet!" He recounted with a small amount of romantic embellishment, "Then you both shared a passionate kiss after the music was over! I could never forget a wonderful and beautiful night like that!"

Hm. So Bella and I kissed on our second date. It must have been an amazing experience, kissing my high school crush like that. If only I could remember it...

Well, I don't think I'll be able to recreate the part where we kissed, seeing as how we weren't together anymore... Buuuuut, I did want to make it up for Bella after scaring her with that whole breakdown from earlier.

"Since you remember the night so well, can you play the same song that we danced to? Like, right now?"

"Right now? As in, 'right now' right now?" Pierre asked confusedly.

"Well, as much as I would love to play it six years from right now, we don't have the time to wait for that," I playfully tapped an imaginary wristwatch, "So yes, 'right now' right now would be awesome."

Seeming to understand what I have planned, he had a great big smile and an excited gleam in his eye as he gave me a salute, "YES SIR, CAPITAINE!"

Sprinting out of the counter with a spring in his step, he loudly shouted out, "Ramone! Gather the band together! We have a special request from our special guest!"

Band? Wait, what?

The pianist, after hearing Pierre calling out to him, stopped playing as he stood up and immediately shouted back, "For reals?! Hell yeah, son! Imma rip a phat piano solo tonight!"

Then he immediately ran off to the back room with the other employees.

Huh. Alright then. We're dancing to a band then.

Cracking my knuckles in preparation, I stood up from my seat and got ready to get my groove on. Stacy said that since the glass shard didn't touch the part of my brain that remembers all my motor skills, then hopefully my skill at dancing in DDRxTime Crisis will translate well on the dance floor just from pure memory muscle.

Just then, a thought struck her as Stacy smiled in realization.

“It might be possible that we haven't lost Lord John just yet. I think there’s a chance that the John Doe we know is still inside him, somewhere. We just need to give him a proper push to really bring him out again.”

Bella raised her eyes with intrigue, “What makes you so sure about that?”

“Back in the penthouse suite, I remembered a conversation both Lord John and I had. I was crying while in the middle of apologizing to him, blaming myself for not being able to prevent his amnesia.” Stacy smiled fondly, “At that moment, something must have snapped inside him, seeing me in that state. He immediately yelled at me to stop whining, since every second I waste feeling pity for myself, I could have spent already finding a cure.”

At that, Bella gave an earnest and genuine laugh as she replied, “That definitely sounds more like the Lord John we know.”

“Exactly. Which means he’s definitely not gone.” Stacy grinned, “He’s still in there, somewhere. We just got to be patient with him, let him go at his own pace. Then, when the opportunity arises, I’m sure Lord John will come back to us the moment we need him the most.”

Bella turned to face Stacy with a hopeful smile, "Do... do you really think so? Lord John is still inside somewhere?"

"We can't **** it out. Otherwise, it might do the opposite effect of what we want." Stacy explained as she smiled, "But as long as we give him time, he might come back in tiny fragments, one by one, until it starts making a whole again. That's my theory at least."

Bella silently nodded back, giving it much thought. Then, she slapped herself in the face and shook her head clear, getting her game face on. “That's good enough for me, I think. Thank you, Dr. Mandel. I needed that. Now I have something to work towards as we both try to get Lord John cured.”

“Right!” Stacy clenched her hand to a fist, “We got to be strong for him. If it was either of us who had the amnesia and the roles were reversed, I’m sure Lord John would have already found a cure for us since yesterday. Let’s both try to catch up to his level, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Bella nodded back affirmably, before turning on the sink and washing her face clean. “Gah, all that crying ruined my make-up. There’s no way I’m walking out there like this in front of John. I need to look sexy and alluring at all times in front of him, no matter what! Just like how he always remembered me!”

Stacy gave a relieved smile, happy to see her friend have her spirit back. She patiently stood by and watched as Bella cleaned herself up, bringing out her makeup kit from her dress pocket and applying a new layer on.

With a new blush and mascara applied, Bella leaned in towards the mirror to check herself out, before blowing a kiss in satisfaction. "Lord John would never be able to forget this."

As they proceeded to walk out the lady's restroom, Stacy reminded, "No matter how long it takes, no matter what happens, we stay patient and remain by his side. Let him slowly come back to us, one by one. Like baby steps."

Bella nodded back, happily adding, "Then once he comes back to normal, we should definitely celebrate together! I'm thinking... a special honeymoon vacation for you and Lord John?"

"Honeymoon? Oh, no, I'm not sure if I can-" Stacy blushed at the thought.

"Oh come on, Dr. Mandel! Now that you've become his girlfriend, it's only a matter of time before he asks you to marry him and join the harem! I promise the other wives will love you just as much as I do!" Bella giggled excitedly, "Oh, it's going to be so kinky, having another one join the bed!"

"Let's cross that bridge later when we get to it." Stacy embarrassingly chuckled as they both took the exit.

When they came back to the main room to check on John, they were immediately confused to see the lights switched off. The only light that was on was shining above the middle of the dance floor.

"What in the..." Stacy cautiously remarked as she looked around. The guards seem to still be at their posts, so it doesn't seem like it was something serious...

Both of the girls checked over the bar counter, only to find neither Pierre nor John nearby.

"John?" Bella called out, feeling slightly worried over the weird atmosphere.

"Yo." A familiar voice called out to them.

Surprised, they both turned back to the dance floor to see John in the middle, smiling at both of them as each of his hands held onto both of the drinks Pierre had made for them earlier.

"What's going on?" Stacy couldn't help but ask, not expecting John to be back to smiles again after suffering a panic attack just minutes ago.

"Eh, just having fun." John casually shrugged.

Just then, the lights up on the stadium turned on, revealing a small group of various employees of the bar on instruments, with Pierre leading with the microphone.

Before the girls could even react to this, the pianist started playing as John proceeded to casually kick the floor to slide over to the girls' location, revealing that he had taken his shoes off just to be able to slide on the floor.

Handing them both their drinks, he winked and grabbed both of their free arms to lead them over to the dance floor. Both Bella and Stacy had to be careful not to spill their drinks from how insistent he was pulling.

"Woah, okay, um-" Stacy muttered in confusion, not sure what exactly was happening.

Bella's eyes seemed to have widened though, as she realized, "Wait a minute, I think I know this-"

The music started kicking up a notch as Pierre started singing.

"This was the song that we danced to back on our date, right?" John asked with a knowing smile, beginning to get down with his bad self as he spun around on his socks, "I have no idea how it went, but I'm imagining it went something like this, right?"

Surprising both of them, John proceeded to show off an almost miraculous level of skill as he danced to the rhythm of the song, doing moves like shuffling forward despite moving backwards, flailing his hands around in distinct choreography, and showing an impressive amount of balance on his feet in general.

"Did you guys know that I could dance? Apparently, training nonstop to perfectly master DDRxTime Crisis makes you really good at dancing for some reason." John commented as he continued to show his moves off.

"H-How did you know that this was the song we danced to on our second date?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Pierre told me." He replied simply, before reaching out to grab Bella's arm again, "C'mon! Stop standing around and dance with me already."

Bella couldn't help but laugh as she got pulled in, hurriedly downing her drink as she proceeded to dance and relive an old memory she never thought she'd get to revisit.

"Sorry for worrying you earlier, Bella. I just want to let you know that I'm fine now, and I promise you that I'll do my best to not freak you out like that ever again." John apologized to her, syncing himself to match her every movement.

"Oh, John..." Bella eyes gleamed in the light as she stared at John with happy longing.

Stacy stood off to the side, watching in awe as she studied John's behavior at this moment. Despite not showing off any signs or clues that he had recovered any of his memories, this strangely confident and extravagant behavior was definitely something she would imagine Lord John would act before the amnesia. Where this confidence suddenly came from, she had no idea. Stacy had originally thought that they would have to start comforting John while he was still recovering from his panic attack. She'd never imagined that he would recover so quickly and seemingly start turning the tables on them by comforting Bella instead with this creative idea to dance away the problems.

However, seeing them both dance to their heart's delight without a care in the world, Stacy definitely wasn't complaining.

Baby steps, Stacy cheerfully reminded herself while drinking her special rainbow drink.

Seeing her just standing off on the sidelines, John suddenly slid right towards her and began pulling on her to join as well, "C'mon Stacy, you too! Dance with us!"

"Oh, no- I actually don't know how to-" Stacy struggled back for a moment, before giving in to John's demand as she found herself in the middle of the dance floor right next to Bella.

"It's not that hard, I've seen you dance back at the hotel!" John confidently reassured, "Just do what comes naturally!"

"Yeah, Stacy! Don't third-wheel yourself out of this moment! Join us!" Bella laughed, swaying her hips to the music.

Finding both of their enthusiasm to be infectious, Stacy decided to go along with it as she downed the rest of her drink and loosened her inhibitions as she boogie-downed.

The next few minutes that followed weren't about regaining lost memories of an important Lord, the dedication of his forgotten wife, or even about the problems and trials of the doctor trying to cure him. It was just three good friends connecting with each other as they danced in peace, and a very enthusiastic French bartender who was REALLY REALLY good at imitating the voice of the lead singer of the band Jamiroquai. Like, scary accurate imitation. Wowzers.